Nicolas Cole
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If your career starts at 25, and the average retirement age is 65, and each role (each "swing") is roughly a 5-year journey, that's 8 trips to the plate and then you're done.
Whatever you accomplish for yourself in those 8 trips-whether it be playing a meaningful role in a company, building your own, mentoring others, making a meaningful contribution to society, achieving your own definition of financial freedom, etc.-defines the totality of your...
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If you want to have any hope of remaining relevant in the working world, you need to understand the difference between Native Digitals and Native Analogs.
Native Digitals are a new category of human, and Native Analogs are the last of their kind to walk the earth. It's why Boomers (Native Analogs) call Millennials & Gen-Zers (Native Digitals) "entitled, lazy, avocado-toast-brunching screen addicts." But this isn't about young people being lazy and...
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To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:
categorypirates.substack.com
The COVID-19 pandemic has opened the door for radical innovation-specifically in the work-from-home category. But the opportunities "at home" go far beyond just work.
• Home is a schoolhouse.
• Home is a gym.
• Home is a restaurant.
• Home is a television or podcast studio.
•...
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In 1973, Martin Cooper invented the cell phone.
How?
• He started with a problem (the Chicago police needed an alternative to bulky 2-way radios)
• He synchronized the Magic Triangle (product, company, & category design)
• He executed a Lightning Strike (a publicized call to his competitor)
And he won the category.
In this "mini-book" you will learn:
• How Martin Cooper led the creation of the world's first cell phone at Motorola, and...
5) How to Make Money in a Recession: 5 Steps To Create Demand For Your Product, Service, Or Platform
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We are in a recession.
(Not officially, but it is not looking good.)
Stocks are down. Startup valuations have plummeted. Bitcoin and Ethereum have lost more than 50% of their total value since their respective highs back in November 2021.
But where there is chaos, there is opportunity.
Google and Amazon both came out of the dot-com bubble in the 90s. And Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Square, and dozens of other next-gen technology companies were founded...
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In the summer of 2021, Netflix announced its plans to offer gaming products on its streaming platform.
The first games launched on Android in early November 2021 and are included alongside the streaming service's movies and TV offers, bundled within the same monthly price. But this category adjacency strategy (growing into adjacent markets) isn't Netflix's golden opportunity. Growing into adjacent markets makes the most sense when it allows a company...
Author
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English
Description
To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:
categorypirates.substack.com
Most people believe Category Design is who-ha, malarkey, and/or B.S.
And you can't blame them, really. There are over 50,000 marketing books, 30,000 business strategy books, and 20,000 entrepreneurship books on Amazon.
Most of them say similar things, and most of these teachings...
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The pinnacle of sharing your insights with the world is writing a book, whether you are a writer, a creator, an entrepreneur, or an executive.
If you want to make a difference in the world and you want the best possible shot at producing a bestselling book, this mini book will give you a framework. Learn how to turn your insights, perspectives, and stories into an asset that not only gives you the title of "author," but changes the way people think...
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Most entrepreneurs and business strategists believe Cirque du Soleil created something new by doing what had come before in new & different ways.
But that's not really what happened.
The untold story of Cirque du Soleil reveals the importance of staying focused on creating a different future (rather than competing over the past).
These Category Creators are missionaries who impatiently see the way the world could be. They are creating the future....
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This fully illustrated, step-by-step guide is for anyone who wants to improve their drawing skills, from the complete novice to the mid-level and even the more experienced artist. With a little time, practice and some basic tools, you will soon be creating eye catching drawings of the world around you, including figures, animals, still lifes, buildings and seascapes. Professional artist Duncan Smith's lively and expressive illustrations are accompanied...
Author
Language
English
Description
To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:
categorypirates.substack.com
Human beings are not brands.
Listen closely...
Oprah Winfrey is not a brand. Oprah is a Black woman who was born into poverty in Mississippi to a single teenage mother who used her challenging and troubling childhood to inspire her to create a new category of television talk show that...
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You are an Intellectual Capitalist, and you might not even realize it.
• Anytime you create a process for yourself, you are an Intellectual Capitalist.
• Anytime you execute your own problem-solving framework, you are an Intellectual Capitalist.
• Anytime you create an asset (even an Excel spreadsheet) for a domain-specific purpose, you are an Intellectual Capitalist.
• Anytime you create a template to improve your own efficiency, you are...
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Right now, we're experiencing a fundamental change in how humans experience life.
There are two types of people on planet earth today:
The first are Native Analogs. These are Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers born anywhere from the 1940s all the way up to the early '80s. Today, they range between the ages of 40 and 75+, and make up approximately 136.8 million Americans.
The second are Native Digitals. These are Millennials and Gen-Zers born between the...
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If you want to change your behavior, you have to change the situation around your behavior.
Let's say, for example, that you want to eat healthier food. You can modify your circumstances in three ways:
• Preparation
• Accountability
• Mindset
This is just one of the techniques Dr. Ayelet Fishbach, an award-winning psychologist and a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, shares to help you take control of your desires,...
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“Category Design” is about educating the world on something that doesn't exist or isn't commonly understood.
This means educating people on something they don't know anything about, yet. But in order to properly teach people, you have to ask the right questions.
In 2022, category designers like you sent our team at Category Pirates hundreds of questions about the fundamentals of category design. So, we want to answer them publicly so everyone...
Author
Language
English
Description
To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:
categorypirates.substack.com
Silicon Valley says, "The best product always wins." But does it?
The goal of every entrepreneur, then, is to build the best product. How? Put the incumbent of the industry you want to "disrupt" in your sights, funnel tens (or hundreds) of millions of dollars into your scope, and build a "monster"...
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The entire field of "analysis" (of any kind: habitual, financial, data usage, etc.) is backward-looking. You are analyzing data from the past.
The thing is, no one really wants to challenge the past. Not even the smartest people in the most technical of fields where you would think subjectivity didn't have much room.
And this approach works great if your goal is to incrementally optimize an existing business.
But if you want to reveal exponential...
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In a time where income inequality has never been higher, Tesla's mid-2019 to 2020 stock performance may represent the single greatest transfer of wealth from Wall Street to Main Street.
This begs two questions:
• How was it that "Wall Street experts" were so wrong about Tesla?
• And how is it that so many "Main Street" investors were so right?
The truth is, it's very difficult for Wall Street to value Category Creators, who by definition blur...
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Many years ago, Kraft ran an internal survey.
The survey asked the company's top 100 executives which Kraft products they ate. "Which products do you buy a lot of? Which of these products do you love?"
Turns out, only 3 of the top 100 executives were Superconsumers of their own company's products.
One executive said, "I'd never feed my family this stuff."
There's an expression in business: "Eating your own dog food." Whether you "eat your own...
Author
Language
English
Description
To read this "mini-book," as well as our entire archive of writing on Category Design, subscribe to Category Pirates here:
categorypirates.substack.com
How are you investing your life?
Some of the most-asked questions in business are career-related:
• "How do I decide when to leave my current company?"
• "How do I pick which company I should join?"
• "How do I get a bigger job?"
Where you choose to work and how you invest your life is what...